When Kai came to his senses, he was already devouring his third carrot.

He subtly pushed Ben away with his elbow every time the horse tried to stick its head in for the carrots. It was the first time he had ever felt anxious about a horse stealing his food.

After hastily gobbling up three carrots, Kai was overwhelmed by an indescribable self-loathing, all his strength draining away. He had sacrificed the emperor’s dignity for mere carrots.

It wasn’t even a well-prepared meal, nor was it served on a clean table. He had chomped on roughly washed carrots just pulled from the soil, like a horse that hadn’t eaten for three days.

“Haah…”

Kai, finally regaining his senses, cooled his burning cheeks with the back of his hand. He felt relieved that the darkness of night concealed his face from the other person.

But what was truly humiliating was that he kept unconsciously glancing toward the carrot patch.

Who would have thought the day would come when he would look down on himself because of mere carrots?

“Has your hunger subsided a bit now?”

Stella asked with a pleased expression, observing Kai let out a deep sigh.

“…Thank you.”

Unable to lift his face due to embarrassment, Kai hastily thanked her and stood up. He felt it would be best to get away from there as soon as possible.

“I pulled a few more carrots. Do you want to take them?”

Her voice was as sweet as the carrots.

No. Don’t look back. They’re just carrots. I can order the imperial chef to prepare them exquisitely anytime.

Kai firmly resolved to turn around, refuse her offer, and leave.

“Thank you.”

But when he faced the brilliant orange of the carrots Stella was holding, his lips moved on their own, contrary to his intentions.

In the end, on the way back to his true self with Stella’s carrots, Kai’s face, astride Ben, was filled with regret and self-loathing instead of his usual sharp intelligence.

You fool. Why did you thank her? Why did you accept more carrots?

Kai shook his head at the frenzied appetite he couldn’t comprehend. Recently, he had even lost his appetite, often leaving untouched the dishes the chef had prepared with great care.

He wanted to erase the memory of his lowly actions. It’s just carrots. Just dirty carrots freshly pulled from the soil, he reminded himself.

Crunch, crunch.

Even as he shook his head, his hand holding the carrot kept moving toward his mouth. When all the carrots in his hand had disappeared, Kai muttered, staring at his empty hand with hollow eyes.

“I should have savored them.”

That night, upon returning to his room, Kai fell into a deep sleep as soon as he lay on the bed.

The blanket, appropriately rough yet cozy, enveloped Kai’s tired body like a hot bath, while the cool air from the open window tempered the room’s temperature just right. It was a long-awaited deep sleep.

***

The moment the elongated sunlight that had snuck through the curtains grew longer and stripped away the shadow cast on her face, Stella’s eyes flew open.

“My carrots!”

All night, she had dreamed of an impudent knight and an old horse ravaging her carrot patch. Stella, staring blankly into space with wide eyes, got up unsteadily and rubbed her eyes to shake off the lingering drowsiness.

For a moment, the boundary between last night’s events and her dream blurred, causing confusion in her mind, but Stella soon succeeded in separating the two.

“It was a dream. Thank goodness.”

Along with relief, she recalled the image of the knight devouring the carrots she had given him as if he had just finished grueling training.

“How hard it must have been for him. He seems to be a low-ranking knight, so I should take care of him again next time I see him.”

By now, Stella perceived Kai as a low-ranking knight who couldn’t even eat properly because he had to be mindful of other knights.

It was natural that she couldn’t think the emperor in splendid attire she had met at the formal dinner and Kai in comfortable clothes riding an old horse the previous night were the same person.

She hadn’t even properly seen the emperor’s face that day when she was out of her mind because of the Bloodline Document. Moreover, who could imagine that the person who had frantically eaten a few carrots with such desperation would be the emperor?

“Still, I feel proud.”

Stella was very happy that she had helped someone hungry with the crops she had grown. It was a sense of achievement she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Stella stretched and yawned widely. If this was what life as a hostage was like, she felt she could do it ten times over.

After saying she would go for a morning walk, Stella went out to the garden and sighed deeply at the sight of the bare land.

While she didn’t like the garden overgrown with weeds, the now exposed dirt didn’t look much better either. It felt like looking at her own situation, devoid of possessions.

“I need to plant something quickly.”

Stella’s carrot patch occupied less than a tenth of the entire garden.

“I should ask the earth fairies if I can get other seeds too.”

When she first received the carrot seeds, she never dreamed she would have such thoughts. But watching the carrots grow day by day turned out to be quite enjoyable.

Even while reading books, she would suddenly think of them and dash to the balcony to look down at the garden. Each time, she regretted not planting the carrots closer to the balcony.

The carrot patch, much closer to the castle entrance, was lush with green leaves amidst the entirely brown garden.

“Stella!”

Stella’s steps quickened as her mind raced, and Esta kept pace beside her.

“Good morning.”

By now, exchanging greetings with the earth fairies felt completely natural. Occasionally, she worried about being caught talking to them by others, but she had become more adept at it with practice.

When someone approached while she spoke to the little ones, Stella would hum a tune. Thanks to this, the servants of Verdura Castle simply believed that Princess Stella enjoyed singing.

As Stella made her way to the carrot patch with Esta, a few more earth fairies joined them.

A moment later, upon arriving at the field, Stella marveled at the carrots that had grown about a finger joint taller since the night before.

“Do they usually grow this fast?”

Although she didn’t know much about farming, she had never seen or heard of crops growing this quickly.

Stella gently stroked the carrot leaves that swayed in the breeze, as if she were petting a puppy. The not-yet-fully-grown carrot leaves felt as soft as a baby’s cheeks.

“In three more days, they’ll be fully grown and ready for harvest.”

A satisfied smile spread across Esta’s face as he watched Stella. It was always a joy to observe a diligent student during a lesson.

“So now I just wait?”

“Good question. Do you see that carrot?”

Esta pointed to a carrot that had grown considerably, its orange root bulging above the soil. Stella nodded in agreement.

“You need to carefully hill up the soil so the roots don’t stick out like that.”

“Hill up?”

“Yes. It means covering the roots well with soil.”

“Ah, I see!”

“Watch closely!”

Esta sat down in front of the carrot and covered the exposed root with soil. His tiny hands worked deftly.

After mounding the soil up to the green leaves, Esta pressed it down firmly with his palms. As Esta crouched there, the carrot leaves appeared relatively large in comparison.

Stella suddenly realized that the carrots she had grown were much larger than the ones she had eaten before.

“Esta.”

“Yes, I’m all done now.”

Esta looked up with a satisfied expression, having just completed his task.

“Why are these carrots bigger than the ones Ark gave me?”

“That’s because you grew them. Fairy carrots change size depending on who cultivates them.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Fairy carrots grown by giants are larger than you.”

It was fascinating.

“If I were taller, would the carrots have grown even bigger?”

Esta giggled at Stella’s question as if he had heard something ridiculous.

“As if humans could get that big.”

Stella never expected to be looked down upon for her height by an earth fairy. She deliberately and pointedly looked down at Esta, who was gazing up at her.

Realizing the implication of Stella’s downward gaze, Esta averted his eyes and mumbled.

“It varies by race. So even if that carrot thief from yesterday planted them, they’d still grow to this size.”

While Esta conducted the carrot-growing lesson, the earth fairies who had followed along covered the exposed carrots with soil.

Stella quickly joined in, anxious that the earth fairies might do all her work for her.

Milla, who was standing by the window, directed her gaze towards Stella sitting in the carrot patch. Her expression as she watched Stella was complicated.

She couldn’t understand why the princess was working in the field like a peasant farmer from early in the morning. Moreover, she wasn’t even skilled at it.

Several times, Milla saw Stella accidentally step on and crush sprouts as she moved around after covering them with soil, startling herself. Even to Milla, who didn’t know much about farming, Stella appeared clumsy and awkward.

“And yet they’re growing so well,” Milla mused.

Her gaze shifted to the lush green carrot leaves. The carrots she had glimpsed in passing were growing unusually fast, and the leaves were becoming more abundant by the day.

Though she was too far away to see Stella’s expression, and the princess had her back turned, Milla could tell just from her posture how happy Princess Stella was at that moment.

Stella’s seated gait, as she moved bit by bit while fiddling with the soil, resembled a small bouncing ball.

“I should go see,” Milla said.

She began to move, having stood still and merely observed until now. She was eager to understand why the princess was behaving this way.

—

T/N: The first part of this chapter made me chuckle hard. LOL I AM LOVING THIS KIND OF INTERACTION